The Spectrum of Love
by UNrequitedAmbitions
Summary: Who could have guessed that you can fall in love before ever realizing what it means? Lily and James are childhood friends, Sirius and Holly meet at a family get together, Remus and Tahlia run into eachother at Diagon Alley. If only they had known...
1. Prologue: How it All Began

**A/N;** just something i've actually been working on for a while, this chapter has been really close to being finished for a long time, I just had to go over and edit it a bit.

This doesn't mean i've forgotten about Lux, this is just something i've been working on for a while.

I know in the begining here they say that they're five, but i think the rest (remus, holly, etc.) act like they're older so, sorry about that, but i don't think it's a huge deal...

Anyways, I'd love to know what you think, thanks!

* * *

"I swear, she gets cuter every time I see her, Sarah!" A tall, blond woman gushed as she bent low to smile widely at the child at her feet. "And how old are you, Lily?"

"I'm…" Lily thought for a moment before she held up four fingers and declared, "Five!" Looking triumphant.

"I'm five too!" The boy standing next to her exclaimed- not wanting to be left out, as he too held up the incorrect amount of fingers.

"Oh wow!" The blond woman replied enthusiastically as she diverted her attention to him. "And what's your name sweetie?"

"His name's James!" The red-headed girl interjected before he could answer, causing him to stick his tongue out at her. "He's my best friend." She explained as she rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the blond woman.

"Well that's nice." She responded as she smiled warmly at them both. "How long have you known James?"

"Since yesterday!" The boy answered this time. "I moved in next door yesterday."

"Oh, really?" The woman questioned and James nodded his head. "Where are your parents, dear?"

"Over there." James said, pointing to a man and woman across the yard. The man was holding a lawn sprinkler up and examining it closely while the woman marveled at the fondue fountain that had been set up on the buffet table.

The lady straightened up and returned to talking to the red-headed woman next to her. "What's their deal?" She asked her, chuckling slightly as James's mom stuck a finger into the fondue just to retract it in shock as she discovered it was hot.

"I'm not quite sure." Sarah replied, looking amused. "They seem nice enough though. And Lily and James seem to like each other," She added as she glanced down at the little couple, "It's nice to have another kid Lily's age around."

"Yeah I bet." The woman nodded in agreement and then heaved a sigh, "Well, I'd better go see where Timothy ran off to. I'll come find you later, okay? Oh! And Happy Birthday, Sarah!" The woman congratulated as she began walking away.

"Thanks Marge!" Sarah called after her as she watched her friend go with a smile.

"Mama?" A small voice sounded from the ground as she felt a little hand tug on her pant leg.

"Yes Lily?" Sarah crouched down so she could see her daughter better.

"Can James and I have punch?" She asked as she gave her a sweet smile.

"I suppose so. Go find Petunia; she'll get you some punch." Sarah stood up and patted her daughter on the head.

"O-tay! Thanks mama!" Lily squeaked before grabbing James's hand and dashing off through the small crowd of people to find her sister.

"Tuney!" Lily yipped as she bobbed around the forest of legs, James's hand securely in hers so they didn't lose each other. "Tuney!"

"There she is!" James shouted enthusiastically and pointed his chubby hand at a blond haired girl a few feet away.

Lily quickly ran over to her and tugged on her pants to get her attention. Petunia seemed as used to his action as her mother because she immediately bent down to her sister's eye-level.

"What is it Lily?" She asked, smiling slightly at the sight of her little sister in her girly pony tails, hand-in-hand with the disheveled looking black-haired boy.

"We want punch!" Lily exclaimed, smiling sweetly.

"Can you say please?" Petunia asked, sounding like a bossy teacher.

Lily closed her mouth tight and her eyes shone with humor before she opened her mouth and whispered, "Please?"

"Well alright then." Petunia conceded as she stood up and took Lily's free hand to guide her over to the small card table they had set up with drinks. She let go of her hand and filled up two paper cups with fruit punch and carefully bent down to the two children and handed them each a drink.

"Now what do we say?" Petunia asked, looking expectantly at them.

"Punch is yummy!" James exclaimed as he took a large gulp of his punch and smacked his lips in delight.

"Nooo." Petunia said, looking stern. "What do you say when someone does something nice for you?"

"Thank you!" Lily shouted suddenly as she remembered.

"You're welcome Lily." Petunia nodded approvingly at her before turning to look at James. "What about you James? Do you have anything to say?"

James rolled his eyes and said, "I already told you the punch was yummy!"

Petunia was getting exasperated and was just about to try and explain proper manners to James in detail when something suddenly caught Lily's attention and she ran off, slopping juice all over the ground, and herself, and pulling James with her.

Petunia straightened herself back up as she watched the two kids run through the crowd before she scanned the people for her mother. She spotted her near the front of the house, standing with her father, and headed that way.

"Hey sweetie!" Her mom said once she was in speaking distance, "Did Lily and James find you? They said they wanted some punch."

"Yes I got them some punch." Petunia nodded until her attention was caught by James's father who had one of her parent's friends by the wrist. He was holding it close to his face, apparently inspecting the watch upon it. She looked up at her parents to find that they found it highly amusing and were smiling, almost fondly, at him.

"They are so _strange._" Petunia hissed, "And their boy is so _rude_, he knows nothing of proper manners!"

Sarah smiled kindly down at her oldest child, "There's nothing wrong with being a little different Tuney. And little James is only five, he has plenty of time to learn manners."

"Well I don't like them." Petunia declared as she stuck her nose in the air and folded her arms across her chest. "There's just something… off with them."

"I don't care whether you like them or not missy, you will treat them with respect, understand?" Her father leaned across her mother to glare at her as he spoke.

"Yes." Petunia said hesitantly and dropped her arms.

"Good." Her father replied, smiling.

Petunia then walked away, trying hard not to stomp her feet in agitation. Once she was out of ear-shot and sight of her parents she stopped and muttered under her breathe.

"Someday I'll find out what's wrong with those freaks."

***

"Where are we Da?" A small, black-haired girl asked as she tugged on her father's pant leg.

"Visiting some relatives, Holly. Now stand up straight, and you'd better be on your best behavior tonight, understand?" The man replied, straightening his shirt as they waited in the dimly lit hallway for someone to come get them. The girl nodded and copied her dad's posture.

After a couple of seconds a woman walked up from a set of stairs to the left. She was very tall and willowy and had an aura of darkness around her, causing Holly to flinch slightly, tempted to hide behind her father's legs. Years of dealing with her parent's frustration made her able to squash the impulse though, knowing that she would get in trouble for it later.

"Hello Josephine, Henry." The woman greeted them stiffly as she eyed them warily, almost as if she distrusted them in her house.

"Nice to see you again, Walburga." Holly's father greeted as her mother smiled coldly at her.

"Do follow me to the dining room, dinner will be served shortly." Walburga promptly turned on her heel and began to float eerily down the stairs. Holly followed behind her parents and looked on at all she saw in a horrified kind of wonder. Holly's house was full of somewhat questionable family heirlooms, but it wasn't anything like this. This house seemed to be made out of nothing but very illegal, very dark artifacts.

When they entered the dining room, they were greeted by the other guests, who were scattered in small groups about the room. Holly's parents immediately went to making conversation with all of the most important people and managed to ignore her for the majority of the evening.

Holly grew bored within the first ten minutes but she couldn't forget that she'd promised her father she'd be good. So she followed them around obediently, drinking glasses of cider her mother kept shoving in her face to keep her occupied. After five glasses she had to go to the bathroom, but it was only after eight that she said anything.

"Ma!" She cried trying to get her mother's attention. "MA!"

"What! What do you want?" Her mother snarled as she reluctantly broke away from her conversation to glare down at her daughter.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Holly nearly whispered, feeling her face grow red in embarrassment since her mother's outburst had gained the attention of the entire group.

"Well then go!" She exclaimed in exasperation as she waved her off dismissively and returned to the people around her. Not wanting to upset her mother anymore, Holly quickly made her way across the room and into a dark hallway. She glanced from side to side before deciding to turn left and quickly taking off down the hall.

The farther she walked, the more she felt like she was getting lost; the hall twisted and turned and she didn't remember how many times she had come to a dead end. She wrung her hands nervously as she stopped under a wall adorned with house elves heads. There was a loud crash to the right of her, and she jumped nearly a foot in the air as she stared wide eyed down the endless hallway. She heard heavy footsteps, like someone was running, and she began to panic. She felt frozen, glued to her spot on the carpet as she stared down the hall. A person's silhouette came into view and before she knew it someone had jumped on top of her and pinned her to the ground.

"Avast ye unruly wench!" The person shouted in a strange accent.

"Wh-what?!" Holly nearly screamed as she tried to wiggle around to see who was on top of her. They didn't feel very big so it was probably just another child.

"What're ye doin' along this path? I should make ye walk the plank!" The stranger yelled as they flipped her over so she was on her back.

"What are you talking about?!" Holly cried as she looked up into her attackers face. It was a boy, probably about her age, wearing some kind of strange hat made of paper and a patch over his left eye. The boy sighed dramatically and rolled off of her.

"I'm a pirate, geez! You don't get out much, do you?" The boy questioned as he sat up and looked at her.

"What's a… pirate?" Holly asked as she scooted farther away from the boy, just in case he decided to jump her again.

"They're the terrors of the sea! The swashbuckling, town plundering, treasure hunting terrors of the sea!" The boy exclaimed excitedly.

"Well I've never heard of them." The girl challenged as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the boy.

"That's because it's a muggle thing." The boy said simply as he shrugged his shoulders.

"How do you know about muggle things?" Holly asked, dropping her defensive stance and tilting her head in intrigue.

"There's this muggle boy who lives a few houses down, and sometimes I sneak out of the house to play with him. He told me about pirates and gave me a book about them." The boy explained.

"Doesn't that upset your parents?" Holly inquired as she thought about what her parents would do if they found out she talked to muggles.

"That's the point!" The boy exclaimed as he threw his hands into the air in a care-free way.

Holly felt something warm engulf her at that moment as the greatest epiphany she'd ever had came crashing down on her: she wanted him. She wanted every piece of him that she suddenly ached in the most terrible, heart wrenching way. She wanted to disregard her parents and run through the halls of her house like a mad person. She wanted to not care if they got angry and locked her in her room all day. She wanted to live to defy everything that her parents believed in.

Her eyes widened in confusion as she grabbed at her chest, feeling constricted and finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden. She knew that the boy was probably trying to ask her if she was okay since he was bent over her, looking concerned, but she couldn't find any words that she wanted to use at the moment. She was too caught up in how perfect he was.

She had never met another person like him before but she knew, without any doubt, that he's what she wanted. And she didn't even know his name.

***

"Are you excited for your first trip to Diagon Alley, Remus?" A short, mousy haired woman asked as she raised her wand to tap the bricks in front of her.

"I sure am!" The small boy replied as he gripped his mother's hand tighter in anticipation.

The small room abruptly flashed a brilliant white and slowly faded away as the brick wall in front of them folded out of the way to reveal a colorful street filled with tons of witches and wizards. Remus gasped audibly and stared in awe at the sight before him. His mother smiled warmly down at him before gently tugging at his hand to get him to move.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Remus shouted as he shook free from his mother's hold and ran up to the nearest store window to gaze inside. Various caldrons were bubbling with potions and a boy, a few years older than him, was scooping one of the concoctions up in a vial.

He heard a chuckle behind him and spun around to see his mother. He smiled apologetically back at her and took her hand again so they could start down the street.

After his mother had visited Gringotts and bought a few supplies they came to a clothing store. Not wanting to watch his mother shop for robes he told her he'd wait right outside. She was hesitant but ended up letting him as long as he promised not to go too far from the store front.

As Remus was waiting he noticed a stall across the street from the robe shop, selling what looked like marbles, and walked over. As Remus drew closer he realized that it wasn't marbles, but beautiful rocks that swirled with different colors. He looked up at the stall owner to see he was busy with a sale before tentatively picking up a blue one and watching the colors swirl like gases.

He became so absorbed in the intricate patterns made in the gas-like substance that he didn't even notice when someone came running right toward him. They slammed into his side and sent the rock flying out of his hand and through the air as he fell hard on his face, his glasses taking most of the damage, as he heard them crack on impact.

He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut in pain before slowly getting back up and looking around to find a girl standing beside him with her hands on her hips, and a smirk on her face.

"What happened?" He asked the girl embarrassedly, as he quickly tried to brush himself off.

"I pushed you!" The girl declared, almost triumphantly.

"What?!" Remus shouted, as his head snapped up to look at her smug face. "Why would you do that?"

"_Because_," The girl drew out the word for an unnecessary amount of time, "I think you're cute." She finished, winking at him.

Remus stared at her with his mouth hanging open before he regained his composure. "That makes absolutely no sense!" He proclaimed as she continued to smirk at him.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I broke your glasses!" She stated as she drew a wand out of her back pocket.

"Where did you get that?!" Remus demanded as he recoiled from her.

"Stole it from my mom." The girl replied, winking at him again as she pointed it right at his face. Before Remus could do anything the girl cried, "Oculus Reparo!"

Remus closed his eyes tightly, expecting to feel excruciating pain any second, but just heard the laughter of the strange girl before him. He slowly opened his eyes to see her laughing mercilessly at him. What an odd person. Remus had never met anyone quite like her. Curious, he brought his hands to his face and took off his glasses to examine them. They were fixed perfectly.

_Did she really fix my glasses?_ Remus thought to himself as he stared at them in amazement. _She can't be much older than me, and I can't do that kind of magic…_

Without warning, the girl slugged him on the shoulder and began to run off. Remus started forward and then shouted, "Wait!" The girl stopped and tilted her head slightly as she looked back at him, "What's your name?"

She threw back her head in laughter before shouting, "Tahlia!" And running away.

"Tahlia." Remus whispered as he watched her leave.

***

"Sirius." Holly repeated as she asked her mother for his name.

***

"James!" Lily shouted in anger as he shoved cake into her face.


	2. None of us Are in Control

**A/N: **Wow, sorry for the long wait for those of you that are reading this but, as you can see, it's kind of a long chapter, so I hope that makes up for it.

This story hasn't been so popular so far, so that's another reason why it's taken so long for me to get it out- it's kind of been on the back burner to some of my more popular stories. You know, if you don't get reviews, you're not really inspired to work on it that much.

Anyways- I'd really love for anyone who reads to just let me know what they think. You don't have to love it, I love getting reviews that tell me what I should work on.

THANKS!

oh- *** means a time-break if you haven't figured it out.

* * *

It was nearing the end of summer break, and James and Lily found that there were less and less things to occupy a completely free day after almost three full months. That is why they were currently sitting cross-legged on Lily's couch, trying to roll their 'R's. Well, at least Lily was _trying_ to teach James.

"Rrrrrrrruffles! Come on James, it's not that hard! Rrrrrrrruffles!" Lily encouraged, rolling her tongue perfectly, even through her laughter.

"It_ is_ hard!" He objected as he screwed up his eyes in concentration, only managing to spit all over himself yet again. Lily promptly fell into a fit of hysterical giggles and began rolling around on the couch, clutching her stomach.

James wiped the spit off his face with the back of his hand before glaring at Lily. It didn't last long though, her laughter was contagious, and his face soon broke into a grin. He could never bring himself to stay mad at Lily for long.

Ruffles, Lily's dog, finally collapsed to the ground, exhausted from barking every time either of them said his name. James reached down and scratched him on the head as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Soon their laughter died down, and James, who seemed to run on a limitless amount of energy, jumped up from the couch.

"Let's go to the park!" He exclaimed, as he began walking towards the front door without a glance in Lily's direction.

"Hold on, James! I gotta tell my mom!" Lily yelled as James ignored her and continued out the door. Lily growled in annoyance and slid off the couch.

"Mom!" She shouted, "MOM!"

"What is it Lily?" Her voiced drifted down from an upper level, and Lily went to stand at the stairs so she could hear her better.

"Can James and I go to the park?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure, sweetie. You two have fun, don't be gone too long!" Lily immediately rushed outside to try and catch up with James. He hadn't gotten too far, just a little ways down the street, but she was still upset that he just took off like that.

"Thanks for waiting for me!" Lily glared angrily at James as she stomped up beside him.

"Oh my gosh, look at that bug!" James exclaimed, pointing to a patch of asphalt and successfully ignoring Lily. He quickly ran over to a spot on the road and crouched down to examine what he'd found. "Lily you have to see this, come here!" He demanded as he waved her over with an excited grin on his face.

"Wow, that's so amazing." Lily scoffed, rolling her eyes as she bent over James to see the large, black beetle, cowering in his shadow.

"Let's take it with us!" James suddenly decided as he scooped the bug into his hand and stood up straight again. "He'd like it better at the park anyway, there's more grass."

"Fine, let's just go." Lily whined as she turned up her nose at him, a habit she had picked up from her older sister.

When they reached the small park a few blocks from their houses, James sat his beetle on a wooden picnic table and began scrounging for sticks and leaves. "Help me feed Bertie!" He demanded as he bent over to pull some grass out of the ground.

"Bertie?" Lily questioned, eye brow raised at his back.

"Yeah, that's what I've decided to name her!" James replied, giving her a proud smile from over his shoulder as he bent over to pick up a leaf.

Lily just sighed and set to helping James gather vegetation for Bertie to eat. She picked up any random thing she could find- pieces of grass, leaves, twigs or flowers. She was crawling along the ground near a row of bushes when she noticed that they had flowers on them. They were really pretty- simple, but elegant. Lily had always loved flowers, maybe because they were her namesake, so she couldn't help reaching out to pluck one off. She held it gingerly in her hands as she stared at it intently, trying to memorize all the little details of it. The petals were a creamy white with purple spots, and near the pollen the color of the petal got steadily darker as the spots became closer together, until it was nearly black at the end.

Lily was so engrossed in examining her flower that she jumped nearly a foot when it began to fold itself into a bud. Lily held it in her hands shakily as it unwound again, like it was blooming. She watched it for a second before setting it on the ground to see if it still worked there. It didn't. She picked it up again and ran clumsily over to James.

"James, James! Look at what I can do!" She yelled as she nearly crashed into him.

"What?" James asked as he whipped around to look at her. His gaze fell on the continuously blooming flower and his eyes widened in shock for a moment before a large, knowing grin replaced it.

Lily stared at him for a moment, confused as to why he was looking at her like that. "Why are you smiling like that?" She asked, sounding suspicious.

"Oh, no reason." He said quickly as he hastily pulled an innocent expression.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him before saying, "You don't like my trick, do you? You're laughing at it."

"No, I like it!" James insisted as his eyes grew wide in fear of upsetting Lily.

"Don't lie James!" Lily huffed as she stuck up her nose again and turned on her heel, heading back to the flower bushes.

"Wait, Lily! I'm not lying, honest!" James pleaded as he took off after her.

Lily stopped in front of the bushes, and began searching through the leaves for another flower while she dutifully ignored James's constant babbling. Suddenly the bush began to rustle, and she had no time to react before a person jumped out from inside the one she had been picking through.

"Ahhhh!" She yelled, immediately taking cover behind James, who was just as startled as she was, if not more.

"Oh, sorry!" The boy yelled once he had stepped out of the bushes, and brushed himself off. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Lily kept James securely in front of her as she glared at the boy. He was very pale and had long, greasy black hair. His whole appearance screamed unkempt; with his large, black smock and big baggy pants. Lily had a feeling she'd seen him before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"I, uh," The boy stammered after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence had passed, "I saw what you did with the flower." He said lamely, looking down at his shaking hands the whole time.

James immediately became more defensive. His whole body tensed and his hands clenched into fists at his side as he glared menacingly at the grimy boy. "What do you mean?" He said between clenched teeth.

"I mean," The boy snarled at James and then looked to Lily, "I saw the trick you can do with the flower."

"So have you come to make fun of it too?" Lily asked snidely as she crossed her arms angrily.

"Wha-? No, of course not! I think it's a brilliant trick." The boy replied, taking a tentative step closer.

"You do?" Lily asked, sounding hopeful, as she stuck her head a little further out from behind James. James tried to cover her behind him again but she scoffed and pushed him completely aside. "Oh seriously, James!" She exclaimed, hands on hips, as he tried to protest.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Severus." He replied shyly.

"Well Severus, I'm Lily and this is James." Lily said, motioning to the boy next to her. James grunted in confirmation and Lily elbowed him in the side for being so rude.

The boy came closer to Lily, feeling it was okay since she seemed calmer now, but kept a watch on James from the corner of his eye. Once he was close enough, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled, but still beautiful, lily flower.

"Oh, wow!" Lily exclaimed as he handed it to her. "Where did you find this?"

"In the woods over there." Severus replied, blushing slightly, as he pointed behind him to a small patch of woods.

"It's beautiful!" She praised, eyes sparkling as she twirled the flower round and round by the stem. Curious, she tried her new trick on this flower to see if it would work. It took a little more concentration but she ended up doing it.

"You know what that means don't you?" Severus' eyes sparkled just as Lily's as he looked at her. She shook her head as she continued to watch her flower. "It means you're a witch."

James gasped and quickly came to stand at Lily's side, glaring threateningly at him as Lily snapped her head up and glared lightly at the boy, "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"No that's not- will you stop!" Severus suddenly yelled at James. "I already know all about you. In fact, I just saw you levitating twigs behind Lily's back not more than ten minutes ago. I'm not here to turn you guys in or anything, I'm a wizard too!"

James relaxed slightly as he regarded the boy for a few seconds. "Prove it."

Severus glared at him, obviously insulted, before bending down and picking up a leaf. He held it carefully between his thumb and pointer finger and stared at it for a few seconds before the end caught on fire. It burned slowly, and once it got too close to his fingertips he let the charred pieces float to the ground before looking, rather smugly, up at James.

"Good enough for you?" He asked as he smirked at him.

"Yeah, I guess." James reluctantly dropped his defensive stance all together, but still remained at Lily's side.

"Whoa! How did you do that?!" Lily exclaimed as she stared wide-eyed at Severus.

"Magic." He answered simply.

"Magic?" Lily repeated, sounding skeptical.

"Yup." Severus said matter-of-factly as he nodded.

James rolled his eyes at the boy's ineptitude and turned to Lily saying, "Don't you feel different when you make that flower do tricks?"

Lily thought for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Yeah, I feel kind of tingly all over."

"Well that's you're magic." James explained.

"Can everyone do magic?" Lily questioned, looking excited.

Severus scoffed. "Of course not."

James glared at him before turning to Lily again. "No, only witches and wizards can do magic and sometimes, like you, two non-magical people can have a child that can do magic."

"I wonder if Tuney can do magic!" Lily suddenly exclaimed, her eyes bright with wonder.

"I doubt she can. Usually if a person can do magic they start showing signs of it when they're around your age. Petunia is much too old." James explained.

Lily frowned for a second until something struck her. "Is that why your parents always act so strange, James?"

"Well," James blushed a bit as he remembered some of the more embarrassing things his parents had done, "Yeah, I guess. Wizards aren't really accustomed to the way things operate without magic, so they find the way muggles do things… fascinating."

"Muggles?" Lily questioned.

"Non-magical people." James clarified.

"Not every wizard finds the way muggles do things fascinating." Severus mumbled to himself, sounding almost disgusted.

"Well most respectable wizards don't find them so repulsive." James spat as he glared at Severus.

"Repulsive?" Lily questioned, looking confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Some wizards believe they're superior to muggles because they can do magic, and they think the world would be better off without them." James supplied, still glaring at Severus who was glaring right back, but didn't say anything.

"Is that the way you feel, Severus?" Lily spoke quietly, almost like she was afraid to hear the answer.

"Well… to a certain degree, yes." He seemed almost pained at his own honesty as he watched Lily for her reaction.

"What do you mean 'to a certain degree'?" Lily questioned further, looking more curious then offended now.

"I believe wizards are superior to muggles, but I don't think we'd be better off without _all_ of them." He replied putting a special emphasis on the word 'all' as he looked pointedly at Lily.

Lily didn't seem to get Severus's double meaning, but James did and he didn't like it at all. If this ignorant idiot thought he was going to jump out of the bushes and make Lily like him then he had another thought coming. He didn't deserve any part of her! By his own standards he should be thoroughly disgusted by her.

"We should probably get home Lily, or your mom will come looking for us." James glared angrily at Severus as he grabbed Lily's hand and tried to pull her away.

Lily resisted and gave him her best puppy-dog face as she whined, "But I want to learn more about magic!"

"I'll tell you more about it at home. I know just as much as this git." James pleaded as he tugged on Lily's hand insistently.

"Fine." She sighed and let James drag her away as she called, "Bye Severus, see you soon!"

***

"Holly, are you even listening to me?!" The girl's father shouted from across the table, but even that didn't seem to get her attention.

Holly was tuning out her parents as usual during their evening meal. Or any meal. Or, really, anytime she was around them. Apparently they had decided to grace her with their conversation tonight instead of completely ignore her as usual.

"Sorry father." Holly nearly whispered as she hesitantly made eye contact with the angry man. He was glaring heatedly at her, and she wasn't surprised when he suddenly shot up from his chair. He loomed over her for the briefest of seconds, casting a dark shadow upon her untouched meal, and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. He hoisted her easily into the air so she was eye-level with him. She struggled for only a fraction of a second, her basic instinct kicking in before her common sense.

"You insolent little brat!" He spat, his face growing red with anger. "How dare you ignore me?" She tried desperately to disconnect herself from the situation facing her. Ignoring her father was what had got her in trouble in the first place, but nothing was going to stop him now, so she forced her mind somewhere else.

She immediately thought of Sirius and the night, nearly two years ago now, that she realized her life could be different. She had seen him several times since then, but they didn't talk much. She wanted to, she _really _wanted to, but for some reason every time she tried to start a conversation she just couldn't. It felt like she'd hit an impenetrable brick wall that made her thoughts tangle and her words get stuck in her throat.

Holly was jerked painfully out of her thoughts as she was thrown roughly to the floor. Any normal child would cry, being thrown from nearly six feet in the air, but Holly was an expert at controlling her emotions and she simply picked herself up, and made her way to her room, trying to ignore her father's threats that followed her all the way there.

The next day, Holly was woken up to the sound of her mother's high pitched screaming. She sighed deeply, taking a moment to simply stare blankly up at her ceiling before gathering the strength to actually get out of bed. She followed the frantic sounds of her mother, and the pathetic squeaking of their house elf, Lena, to find them in the kitchen. Her mother was towering over the poor creature, who looked about to burst into tears at any second.

"How many times have I told you, _this _is not the drawer for our salad forks!" She shrieked, gesturing wildly about the room.

"Lena is so sorry, mistress!" The small creature whined, bowing low to the ground in apology.

"Mom." Holly interrupted to distract her from potentially injuring the now sobbing creature.

"_There _you are!" She boomed, glaring angrily at her. "Where have you been all morning? I went to your room this morning but you weren't there."

"Oh, right…" Holly avoided eye contact with her while she thought up a good excuse for her absence. "I was in the old wing of the house, thought I'd visit study to do some reading."

Her mother continued to glare suspiciously at her. "Well tell me next time! I've been looking for you for hours. You have to start preparing for tonight."

"Tonight?" Holly asked in confusion. "What's going on tonight?"

"The Black's are coming over, you useless child! If you had listened to your father last night you would know that!" She huffed and stormed out of the room, kicking Lena ahead of her as she moved.

'_The Black's are coming _here?' Holly thought to herself as she opened the fridge to look for something to eat, since she hadn't had much of a chance to last night. _'They've never come to our house… and we only go to there's if it's a special occasion.' _

"HOLLY!" Her mother's loud shout from the other room startled her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, ma?" She called back, voice slightly muffled from her head stuck in the fridge.

"Make yourself useful and scrub the main hallway! By the time you're finished with that it'll be time to get ready."

Holly groaned in annoyance and shut the refrigerator door a little too roughly. She grabbed some supplies from under the sink and dragged herself up three flights of stairs to begin her long morning.

***

Sure enough, when she finally finished cleaning it was around five in the afternoon, leaving her just enough time to take a shower and get dressed before the Black's got there.

Holly stood in front of her mirror, starring blankly at her depressing reflection. Her eyes looked sunken in and dark and she looked just a little too skinny to be entirely healthy. A horrible thought flashed through her mind before she grabbed a brush and started untangling her knotted mess of hair.

'_I look like my mother.'_

Holly had fallen into a strange sort of depression after her confrontation with Sirius those few years back. 'Strange' because she was only seven at the time and no normal seven year old is depressed. It was an awakening for her though, one of those moments where life really slaps you in the face. She realized for the first time how horrible her parents were, and she wasn't able to get her mind off of it since. Kind of like when you have an itch, and the more you think about it the more unbearable it becomes. This was kind of exactly like that.

Holly set her brush down carefully as she heard noises coming from a few floors below. Even from third floor the sound of her mother's sickeningly fake, sweet voice gave her chills. They were here. She made her way down the stairs slowly, and had to convince herself several times not to just turn around and run back into her room.

There you are, girl!" Her mother spat as she walked into the living room, trying to avoid the stares of the Black family. "How dare you keep our guests waiting."

"Sorry mother." Holly said quietly as she bowed her head.

"Never mind, you silly girl, just get over here so we can all have a good look at you."

She paused for a moment before entering further into the living room. _'Have a good look at me?' _She thought to herself. _'What is she going on about? The Black's have never paid me any special attention before…"_

They were all quite silent as she walked in; they seemed to be simply taking her in. Scrutinizing her. She stopped in the center of the room and hesitantly surveyed the people around her. She saw her mother and father sitting side by side on the loveseat and Mr. and Mrs. Black on the couch next to their two sons- Regulus and Sirius. Her breath caught strangely in her throat as she made eye contact with the youngest son, and she quickly turned away in embarrassment.

"So, what do you think?" Her mother suddenly interjected, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over them all.

"She will do just fine, I suppose." Mrs. Black proclaimed. "She's obviously not _my _first choice, but he has had his eye on her for quite some time."

Her mother nodded enthusiastically, appeased by her answer. Holly looked on at them in confusion, wishing she could speak up and ask what they were talking about, but she knew better than to interrupt.

"Why don't you three go play in the other room while us adults discuss some important matters?" Holly's mother offered, in the most sickening voice she'd ever heard. She wanted to object and ask her mother what exactly was going on, but she knew it wouldn't be worth it. She knew she wasn't worth their time in explanations.

Holly led the two boys to a small room down the hall decorated in deep reds and blacks. There were two large, red armchairs positioned around the fireplace and a small bookcase. Not a very exciting for a couple of children, but just as boring as every other room in the house.

"Alright!" Sirius exclaimed, strutting into the room behind Holly. "Why don't you two love birds go cuddle in that corner there while I warm myself up by the fire. It's bloody cold in here!"

"Love birds?" Holly questioned, giving them both a confused glance.

"Oh please don't tell me!" Sirius threw his arms dramatically into the air as he strode up to Holly and Regulus. "Don't tell me they didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?!" Holly crossed her arms and took a step closer to Sirius, making them barely inches apart.

"It's not my place to tell you, love," Sirius looked over my shoulder at Regulus and nodded at him, "It's his."

"What is going on?!" Holly demanded, backing away from Sirius so she could glare at both of the boys.

"Temper, temper." Sirius shook a scolding finger in Holly's face and she immediately turned bright red in anger. "You might want to watch that, Regulus." He added, smirking at his brother.

"That's enough Sirius." Regulus finally spoke up, voice monotone but a slight glare in his eyes. Holly quickly turned to him, hoping he would finally tell her what all of this was about.

"The reason that my family has come over tonight," Regulus began, "Is because they're arranging my marriage."

"Marriage?" A look of deep confusion came over Holly as she processed this information. "But then why would they… wait… WHAT?!"

Sirius took a cautious step back at Holly's outburst, noticing the dangerous way the fire flickered in time with her angry breathing.

"Are you meaning to tell me that my parents set me up into an ARRANGED MARRIAGE?!" The fire exploded at this, sending ash scattering all over the room. "I know they hate me but this is too far!" She continued, unaware that burning ash was now floating around the room as she paced the floor, hands clenched into angry fists at her side.

Her eyes flickered briefly to Sirius whose face melted into an unusual look of understanding and pity, but only for the briefest of seconds. Holly blinked, sure it was just a trick of the light, before resuming her pacing.

"Aw, don't fret over it too much," Sirius slapped his brother on the back, causing him to stumble forward a few steps, "Regulus is a real swell guy. He practices his dark arts every night, like a good boy, and always listens to what mommy tells him to do."

Holly froze, gaze locking with Sirius as she spoke very slowly and carefully. "I couldn't care less if he studies his dark arts."

Another subtle expression passed over Sirius's face, but Holly ignored it.

"Why don't you just shove off, Sirius." Regulus spat as he, rather roughly, pushed Sirius away from him.

Holly watched the two boys with narrow eyes and then spoke to Regulus. "Is he _always_ like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He glared at Sirius, who stuck his tongue out at him in return.

"You realize this whole "marriage" thing isn't really going to happen, right?" Holly snapped at the two boys who were now making faces at each other. They both stopped and turned to look at her with incredulity.

"I don't think you fully understand how these kinds of things work, dearie." Sirius stated, "You don't have a choice."

Holly scoffed and crossed her arms defiantly. "Says who?"

"Your parents." Regulus replied, "They obviously wanted you to marry well so that their family name wouldn't be so looked down on any more."

"Like I care." She mumbled to herself. "I'd rather be disowned then have my sodding parents plan my life for me!" She declared, stomping her foot in a very child-like way.

"You know what your parents are going to say, right?" Sirius began, "They'll say you should be proud to marry into such a respected name, you should be honored you were even considered." Sirius snickered as he proved to enrage Holly yet again.

"She should be honored!" Regulus interjected before Holly could storm across the room to Sirius.

She stopped, lowering her fists and glaring at Regulus. "And what makes you think you're so great, that I should be so honored?" She hissed.

"Well, it would be doing your family a great favor, and you'll always be taken care of. Our family has enough money that you could have anything you've ever wanted. It's not like it's a punishment."

Holly took a deep breath and was about to respond when her mother burst unexpectedly into the room.

"Boys!" She called happily as she scanned the room for them all. "You're both to stay the night here tonight, so Regulus and Holly can have some time to become better acquainted."

Sirius groaned loudly. "_Both_ of us? Why not just Regulus, I've no interest in her."

Holly felt something heavy pressing on her chest then, and she closed her eyes, finding it a bit harder to breath then normal.

"Because your mother believes it will make Regulus feel more comfortable if you are here with him." Her mother continued, giving Sirius a look that stifled any further complaints. "So if you'll come with me boys, I will show you where you'll be staying for the night."

The three of them fell into step behind Holly's mother as they mad their way through the various corridors and to the guest rooms.

"Regulus, your room is here." She motioned to the room on the right. "And Sirius, your room is directly above this one- on the next floor."

Regulus gave her a polite 'thank you' and a nod of affirmation as Sirius simply stood against the wall with his arms folded across his chest in indifference. Holly caught Sirius's eye as Regulus gathered up his things to bring into his room, and he winked at her. She rolled her eyes and turned away, trying o hide the blush on her face.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Sirius, why don't you go upstairs and get settled into your room?" She added icily as she glared at the boy- obviously she had caught the small exchange him and Holly had. He simply glared back before stepping away from the wall and sauntering off toward the stairs.

"I'll help!" Holly called out and quickly ran off up the stairs with Sirius before her mother could protest. She snickered to herself as she heard her flustered ranting following behind her.

Sirius gave Holly a side-long glance as she caught up. "She always this much of a bitch?" He asked casually.

Holly turned to look at him as they continued walking, head tilted in confusion. "Bitch?" She asked; the word clearly foreign to her.

"Oh my god." Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Whatever." Holly glared back and put a hand on her hip. They were quiet or a while until Holly broke out of curiosity. "Okay, you have to tell me what it means."

Sirius smiled at her for the briefest of seconds before thinking of how to describe it. "Well… it's kinda like… sorta like…" He took a deep breath before continuing again. "It's a person who annoys you a lot." He finished, smiling again as her eyes lit up and she nodded.

"Yeah! Then she is a bitch. She's _always _annoying me!"

Sirius smirked to himself as the thought of Holly calling her mom a bitch sometime, not realizing that it's a derogatory term. Then he thought of his own parents, and what they'd do to him if he did the same, and frowned.

They were at Sirius's door now but he stopped and turned to face Holly, looking uncharacteristically serious.

"Listen…" he started, clearing his throat, "don't ever say that word to either of your parents, okay?"

Holly stared at him for a moment, head tilted in confusion. "Wha- why?"

"Because it's a bad word and your parents would get mad at you. Trust me- I have a feeling our parents are pretty much one in the same." And then he walked inside, leaving Holly to stand, quite confused, in the hall.

"Okay… thanks…" She whispered to herself before walking in after him.

"Ugh! What a load of crap!" Sirius exclaimed as he took in his room, his somber attitude suddenly replaced by playfulness again.

"What?" Holly asked as she looked around the room.

Sirius knew Holly's mother would probably give him the worse of the two rooms- they didn't need to impress him, just his brother. But he still didn't expect it to be this bad.

"I demand to speak to your manager this instant!" He shouted, throwing his hands into the air in mock anger and smirking at Holly. She giggled and went to sit down on the small bed shoved in the corner of the room, frowning when it creaked in protest.

"You're right, this room sucks." She agreed as she wrinkled her nose at the broken dresser and flickering light bulb over their heads. "Come with me." She suddenly stood up and motioned for him to follow her.

He cast her a wary glance. "Where to?"

She rolled her eyes and began walking away. "Just do it."

"Yes ma'am!"

Sirius followed silently behind as Holly led him down a dark, narrow hallway. They took a left at the end and she glanced around quickly before pushing a curtain out of the way and ducking into a small hole. Sirius followed hesitantly and they re-emerged in a brighter lit hallway where Holly took an immediate right down another.

"Okay!" Sirius stopped suddenly, throwing his hands into the air. "Where are we going?"

"If you'd keep moving you'd find out faster." Holly replied as she placed her hands on his back and started pushing him forward.

"Alright, alright!" He huffed, shaking her off of him and falling into step behind her again.

They walked down four more hallways and Holly led them through three more secret passageways before she finally stopped outside an old, mahogany door.

"We're here!" She declared happily, and proceeded to open the door as Sirius looked on at her in confusion.

"This is quite lovely," Sirius started as he looked around the meticulously clean room, "But why did you bring me here, exactly?"

"Well…" Holly trailed off, looking down at her feet. "I thought maybe you like to stay in here instead of that awful guest room."

"Oh." Sirius replied, sounding surprised. He took to looking around the room again as Holly stood by the door, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Of course you don't have to, if you don't want." She added quickly, starting to regret her decision.

"No, it's fine, just… thank you." He said quietly, being sure to avert his eyes from hers.

"You're welcome." She smiled brightly at him and took a seat on the bed. "My room is the one next door; no one knows where this part of the house is but me, that's why we took so many secret passageways here."

"How do you get by with that?" He asked cheekily, sitting down next to her.

"Well, I only just found it last year, and I still pretend like I'm living in my other room so…" She trailed off, smirking at him.

"Aren't you just the little rule breaker?" He accused, smiling back.

***

"How was your day today, daddy?" A small, curly-haired, blond girl asked as she watched her dad happily from across the dining room table.

"It was good Tahlia." He replied, smiling fondly at her. "How was yours?"

"Oh, it was okay." She smiled innocently as she swung her legs above the ground.

"Margot told me she took you to the muggle zoo today?" He questioned and gave her a searching look as he waited for her to reply.

"Oh yes, it wasn't that fun. Just a bunch of animals locked up in cages." She replied nonchalantly as she continued to swing her legs and smile sweetly at her father.

"So you didn't let any of the animals out of their cages?" He asked, his voice becoming stern.

Tahlia heaved a sigh of admittance and rolled her eyes. "Okay, so maybe I did let some of the animals out, but you should have seen the horrible way they were treated! They deserved to be let out and I don't feel sorry about it." She huffed as crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

Her father just shook his head and chuckled as he stood up and walked around the table to her. She looked up at him with a tentative smile as he leaned down and kissed her on the top of her head.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you." He stated, shaking his head and smiling. "Someday the Ministry is going to come and take you away for exposing our secret to the entire world. And all over some animals in a zoo."

"Better that then some horrible crime. At least my int-" But her sentence was cut off by a yawn.

"Looks like someone's tired." Her father stated as he ruffled her hair with his hand. "Let's get you to bed."

"No way! It's not so late, and I stayed up all this time just to wait for you to come home, it'd be no fair for you to make me go to bed now!" She whined and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. But her point was ruined when her face slowly broke into another yawn and she blinked heavily, hardly able to keep her eyes open.

Her father laughed quietly as he bent down to pick her up off the chair and carry her to her room. She almost fell asleep on the short walk there so he sat her carefully on her bed and covered her up, trying hard not to jostle her.

"Night daddy." She murmured as she snuggled instinctively into her warm sheets.

"Night, love." Her father whispered as he flicked off her lights.

***

Tahlia was woken sometime later by loud sobbing. She lay in bed listening for a while before realizing it was Margot and quickly got out of bed to go find her. She padded quietly down the hall, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she yawned, and she came upon the living room where Margot was sitting in her father's chair, her head in her hands.

"Margot?" She whispered quietly as she came up beside her and set a tiny hand on her arm.

Margot jerked her head up and looked at Tahlia in surprise, her eyes wide and horribly bloodshot.

"Vat are 'oo doing up, child?" She asked hoarsely, voice barely above a whisper.

"I heard you crying, I came to make you feel better." She replied sweetly, clasping her hands around her neck and pulling her into a hug. Margot hesitated before gathering the girl up and setting her on her lap.

"'oo should not be up. I am going to take 'oo back to bed." She whispered into her ear.

"No! Not until you tell me what's wrong." Tahlia demanded as she tightened her grip around Margot's neck and leaned her head back so she could look into her tear-stained face.

"Now iz not ze time, child. In ze morning, I vill tell 'oo everyzing." She promised, kissing her on the forehead and standing up with her securely in her arms.

"You should at least tell my dad what's wrong, he can help you. He always helps me when I have a problem." Tahlia said softly as she snuggled into Margot's chest, not noticing how still she had suddenly became until she realized they hadn't moved for several seconds, and were simply standing next to the chair they'd just stood up from.

"What's the matter?" Tahlia leaned back to look into her face again. Margot was staring back at her with the most tortured expression Tahlia had ever seen on her face. Tahlia shook her shoulders lightly and said, "Margot? Are you okay?"

This seemed to snap her out of her sudden trance and she quickly tucked Tahlia's head back into her chest so she couldn't see the tears that started to fall from her eyes. Tahlia could feel them though as they hit the top of her head and she hugged Margot tight, worried about her.

Margot set her down in her bed, told her to get some sleep, and nearly ran from the room, closing the door tightly behind her. Tahlia tried to get back to sleep, she really did, but she just couldn't shake the ominous feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

***

By the time morning came around she was intricately tangled among her sheets with her eyes wide open and blood-shot from lack of sleep. She checked the time to make sure it was late enough to leave her room, and pretend like she'd actually gotten some sleep, before going to find Margot.

Margot was in her room, sitting in her big leather chair by the window and holding a coffee cup between her hands. She didn't seem to be very aware of the world around her as she stared intently at the wall opposite her, giving the appearance of having fallen asleep with her eyes open. She gave a start when Tahlia went to remove the now-cold coffee from her grip and crawl onto her lap. She gave her a sad look before looping her arms around her and holding her tightly.

"Vat I'm going to tell 'oo iz not a 'appy thing." She started, after a few endless seconds of silence. Tahlia simply remained quiet, her head buried in the crook of Margot's neck. "Last night your father got called into work late. Something about a man trying to illegally raise a dragon in hiz house, natural for hiz job, no?" She paused for a second to take a deep breath; "Only 'eet wasn't a dragon. Ze loud noises zat 'ad been reported zat night were from a recently bitten werewolf 'oo 'ad neglected to inform le Ministry zat 'ee was attacked." Margot stopped again, closing her eyes as more tears fell from them and onto Tahlia's back. "Your father was ze only one sent, 'eet was thought to be only a quick job, only for one person. The man 'ad no idea vat 'e was doing and he… attacked your father. 'e did not stand a chance, Tahlia…" She trailed off as her body and voice began to shake slightly.

Tahlia stayed still for several more seconds as Margot simply cried harder and harder, trying to stifle her sobs with her hands. When she finally moved she sat up in Margot's lap and looked at her with large, sad eyes.

"D-d-d daddy's g-g-gone?" She asked her shakily as tears started to well up in her eyes. Margot could only nod her head weakly as Tahlia doubled over, her head almost in her lap, and began to sob deeply.

* * *

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